“SPARTANBURG, S.C. (BP)–South Carolina pastor Don Wilton said Oct. 23 he made a “personal error” in agreeing to support the campaign of Mitt Romney for president” reads a Baptist Press release titled Wilton: Romney endorsement a mistake

The pastor of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg and a former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, Wilton said the Romney campaign has agreed to withdraw all references to his endorsement of Romney as a candidate.On Oct. 19, the Romney campaign issued a press release stating Wilton had “announced his support for Governor Mitt Romney and his campaign.” The release, which received attention from national media, quoted Wilton as saying, “We need someone in Washington who will stand up for traditional families and Governor Romney is that person.” It also said that while they disagreed on theology, “his values are my values — protecting the sanctity of human life, defending marriage and strengthening the family.”

But Wilton now says that endorsement was a mistake.

“While I did give my consent to the local campaign to use my affirmation of the Governor’s stance on family values in my capacity as an individual citizen, I made the mistake of not realizing the extent to which it would be used on a national basis,” Wilton said. “It was my personal error to agree to support Romney’s campaign. Until this incident I had never endorsed any person running for any elected office, Democrat or Republican” … etc., etc.

Translation: I got played by the Romney campaign.

Young Justin of the Heart Land touts the “endorsement” of Dr. Don Wilton as if it were a scalp hanging from young Justin’s belt. Wilton is actually named in Young Justin’s “plan,” a plan that Young Justin calls “Classic Team Romney”:

Day of straw poll – Final endorsement before the conference ends. This time taken from another campaign. (check – Dr. Willkie founder of a pro-life effort) … etc., etc.

Here is what we wrote in response to Young Justin of the Heart Land’s arrogant claims about his organizational prowess:

Hey, Justin?—just as an aside—do you think Evangelicals like being touted—shown off like war-trophies—in your blog-post? Do you think they appreciate you depicting them as the passive objects of your misguided communications campaign? (How can Boy Perkins deny the charge of being a sell-out, or, worse, a patsy, now?) Don’t you think they would rather be depicted as thinking, reasoning beings who arrived at a decision for Romney based on their own estimation of the candidates, their values, and their goals? Just a thought, dude. But, hey, you’re doing a great job!—for former Mayor Giuliani … etc., etc.

Romney, dear. You have a problem. It is not your Mormonism. It is not even your flip-flopping or ideological cross-dressing. We are increasingly convinced that it’s your crack communications team. And by “crack” we mean that they must be smoking crack.

[…] UA Razerback comments: What is the deal with Romney and his “so-called” endorsements?? Does this make three now that say they are not supporting him? The last Romney-endorsement-retraction that we detected was Dr. Don Wilton: Dr. Don Wilton comes to his senses: retracts endorsement of Romney—this is the same Wilton that Ju… […]